How Does Young Ireand Interact?
Through our ongoing local trends tracking we at MCCP have identifted 6 themes shaping cultural shifts amongst Ireland’s 15-24 year olds. If you are interested in young Ireland’s attitudes on everything from sex to politics and the potential impact for brands this presentation is a must read.
The 5 ’so whats’ which impacted consumers and brands this week
1. Young men are broodier than women More than half of single Irish men in their twenties and early thirties have confessed that they’re itching to become fathers. The survey carried out by match.com places men as the more brooding of the sexes (with 46% of women in the same bracket wanting children).
So what? So why have men become so obsessed with becoming dad’s? MCCP have found that in recent years there has been a shift in status indicators, especially for Irish men. Many recently unemployed men can no longer gain authority or respect in the workplace. Therefore, they are seeking fulfilment in the most primal way possible.
2. Monitoring social tides of change This week Greenpeace’s Irish branch lobbied outside the Facebook offices in Dublin. Their aim is to gain commitment from Facebook to switch solely to renewable energy by Earth Day which falls on April 22nd. The cause is gaining momentum ironically via Facebook where a page has been set up. This week alone 50,000 people have left comments on the ‘Unfriend coal’ Facebook page supporting the cause.
So what? Social networks are being used more and more often as platforms to launch social revolutions. Twitter played, and still does play, a prominent role in the political scene (here and in America) and was instrumental in the organisation of rallies in Egypt and Tunisia. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter bring a fragmented society together and help unite people of common interests/goals. MCCP encourages brands to ‘listen’ to
The 5 ‘so whats’ which impacted consumers and brands this week
1. Align your brand with rituals
Coca-Cola’s Oasis brand is launching a new campaign to highlight just how well the fruit flavoured drink accompanies your choice of lunchtime food. In the past Coca-Cola have seen the benefit of attributing one of their brands to a meal occasion or ritual – “Saturday Night tastes better with Coca-Cola” and reaped the rewards.
So What?
MCCP works with brands to help them identify opportunities to credibly align themselves with people’s routines and rituals. This allows brands to engage rather than disrupt people’s day to day lives.
2. Normalising taboo subjects
Men’s Sheds is an organisation which promotes Irish men’s health and well-being. The organisation realises men often talk to each other shoulder-to-shoulder rather than face-to-face, therefore they bring men together under the guise of working on manual tasks such as rebuilding a motorbike, while taboo subjects such as mental health are brought up as topics of discussion.
So what?
Men’s Sheds is essentially normalising taboo subjects in order break down stigma attached to them. MCCP in its work with National Cancer Screening Service has seen the benefits of opening up peer to peer communication lines around the issue of screening. The effect of more open conversation is greater awareness and understanding which empowers people to make informed decisions.
3. Pop- ups help boost the brand experience
The pop-up retail trend has been around globally for two or three years now and is starting to gain momentum in Ireland. Recently, Dublin based radio station Spin 103.8 set up a pop-up radio studio in
The 5 ‘so whats’ which impacted consumers and brands this week
1. Dublin City Council communicating that; ‘it pays to use your brown bin’
Driving home from work earlier this week my attention was drawn to Dublin City Council’s latest ad campaign for waste management which highlights the money saving virtues of using your brown bin (the one for food and garden waste).
So what?
Amidst all the talk of sustainability by brands and promotion of their green credentials it is clear that for the vast majority of Irish consumers environmental concerns which may have been priority in better times have now been pushed aside by more weighty economic concerns. This is not to say that the environment is no longer amongst our concerns but communication within this sphere should now carry a cost saving message. This is precisely the point MCCP made back at our latest brand forum ‘Instability is the New Norm’ in October 2010. The same insight which we discussed that day remains true; if you are going to talk green credentials in 2011 you must talk money.
2. Heat readership down 11.3% in the UK as the celebrity star fades
Latest ABC figures from the UK released this week reveal that the once stellar performing Heat magazine suffered a sales decline of 11.3% in the second half of 2010, with sales down to a weekly average of 370,132 copies from 417,163.
So what?
From a planning perspective what is interesting is the visible decline of the cult of celebrity which for so long had been epitomised by Heat’s success. MCCP Consumer Dialogues™ examined
MCCP Internship
We are looking to take on new team members for our expanding MCCP Trendstream™ department. We will be running a 6 month internship program from February 2011 with a view to looking for a new permanent team member in 2011. We are seeking insightful and hardworking people who are passionate about strategic planning. For more detail on the skills we are looking for, click on MCCP Internship Indepth. If you would be interested in securing an internship at a dynamic and innovative strategic planning agency, send your CV and contact details to shane@mccp.ie or susan@mccp.ie
Irish Consumer Trends 2011
Trendwatching companies tend to release annual sets of trends, never telling you what happened to last years set . MCCP Trendstream™ is different. We don’t believe trends develop across a neat yearly timeline and we continually monitor existing trends to see where they are on the product life cycle (e.g. adoption, maturity or saturation).
Back in October at our brand forum we highlighted many emerging and developing consumer trends and most importantly the So What for Your Brands? We will be hosting another brand forum in April highlighting how these trends have progressed and other new and revelant developments for your brand. So watch this space for updates on the next MCCP Trendstream™ brand forum in the meantime recap on the Irish consumer trends 2011 and the so what for your brand we shared with you last year.
1. First Consumers Cooked to Save and Now They’re Cooking to Sell
Aimed at amateur cooks who dream of starting their own restaurant, a Dutch site called Tweetjemee (http://www.tweetjemee.nl/) has been created which helps people sell home-cooked meals and desserts to others who live in their area.
After signing up to Tweetjemee, the ‘Buurtchefs’ (neighbourhood chefs) upload pictures and descriptions of the food they’re offering for sale. They list important details such as when the food is available, their preferred pick-up times and each item’s price. Customers select a meal in their neighbourhood, make payment to Tweetjemee and pick up the food at the agreed time. Payments are transferred to the chefs monthly, minus a 30% listing fee for Tweetjemee.
So what?
MCCP Trendstream™ identified early in the recession the rise of home cooking as a cost saving mechanism adopted by the newly frugal. As the impact of the recession continues into 2011 this trend is set to continue but also further progress by encouraging a portion of our growing army of budding chefs to become traders in their own right. Far from being something brands should fear this trend presents a new segment which can be targeted through a variety of products and services (e.g. larger packaging formats or commercial kitchen space rentable by the hour).
2. MTV offers music fans social currency through Music Meter
Here at MCCP our experience working with some of Ireland’s best youth orientated brands has thought us a thing or two about music and because of this
The 5 ‘so whats’ which impacted consumers and brands this week
1. The Irish workforce is emotionally exhausted and open to brands offering escapism.
A survey carried out by the School of Nursing at Dublin City University amongst some 1,406 nurses found that 41% report “high levels of emotional exhaustion”.
So what?
As many Irish workers today feel the need to work harder to prove themselves indispensable, our desire to participate in even fleeting moments of escapism has never been greater. During MCCP Consumer Dialogue™ an ongoing consumer panel forum, we learned the drivers behind the growing need for escapism are altering. During the boom escapism was driven by a need to reward ourselves after working long hours, now it is driven by a need to switch off or distract ourselves after working long hours and from talk of recession.
“You need to switch off or you’d go ga ga”
Because of this truth, brands that offer escapism not from reality but from worry or spending shame will have greater relevance. Kit Kat’s recent promotion, ‘Win a Break from your Bills for a year, is an excellent example of tapping into changing motivations of escapisim.
2. Bundling beyond utilities. Facebook launches ‘Messages’
This week Facebook launched Messages, which integrates chat, texts and email into a single, continuous thread. ‘Messages’ aims to make online conversations easier by being more flexible, as well as “feeling more like a human conversation”. In addition to this integrated service, every person on Facebook will now also have the chance to have an @facebook.com email address.
So what?
Technological advances aside, here at MCCP
Community has stolen a brand space
Irish people once found meaning and fulfilment in brands. A BMW could tell others that you were successful and you would knowingly nod at other BMW drivers feeling part of an elite group. Only 8% of people believe that ‘nowadays status comes from having well known brands’.
People can no longer afford to buy into status brands. Rather they are flocking back to local, intimate communities in search of meaning and fulfilment. They are being drawn to micro groups because macro groups, the government, the banks and the church have let them down. Essentially they are searching for trust. By acting local and intimate your brand can get to a point of trust more quickly and earn peoples loyalty. Call us to find out more.
Geolocation has promised much but can soon start delivering
Much discussion has surrounded the use of geolocation technology in the marketing sphere for some time now. In Ireland, many brands have expressed an interest in the technology and its associated platforms but thus far opted to watch developments eagerly from the sidelines. You will have also observed that the conference circuit has been stuffed full of eager brand managers listening to digital gurus speak on their experience and thoughts of this emerging marketing sphere. However, extremely strong growth in mobile web access, coupled with industry predictions that such web access will outstrip that of desktop access by 2014 means that time has come for many brands to take the plunge. Rather than waiting for others to take the first step, much can be learned through trial and error within this field for a relatively small price.
Take for example the case of the NBA basketball team the New Jersey Nets who recently experimented through a partnership with geolocation platform Gowalla in delivering a social media campaign. This campaign utilized Gowalla’s virtual item platform to distribute 250 pairs of virtual tickets in targeted locations around NYC (sports bars, outdoor parks, gyms) for April 12th’s New Jersey Nets v. Charlotte Bobcats basketball game. Users that found these virtual tickets were able to redeem the item for real tickets on the night of the game. The campaign was a success simply because without the use of any ATL media it helped bring a new demographic to the New Jersey Nets, helped fill seats